Be Smart About South Africa

NICD Reports 210 New COVID-19 Cases

FILE PHOTO: Beds are seen at a temporary field hospital set up in a sports complex by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Khayelitsha township near Cape Town, South Africa, July 21, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings/File Photo

The NICD reports 210 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 916 803. This increase represents a 1.4% positivity rate.

As per the National Department of Health, a further 7 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 88 619 to date.

18 189 273 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.

Sector	Total tested	New tested
PRIVATE	9 802 889	54%	9 173	61%
PUBLIC	8 386 384	46%	5 853	39%
Total	18 189 273		15 026

PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng Province (37%), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (19%), and Western Cape (16%). Free State accounted for 7%; North West accounted for 6%; Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga accounted for 5% each; Limpopo and Northern Cape each accounted for 2% of today’s new cases.

The cumulative number of cases by province is shown in the table below:

Province	Total cases for 17 October 2021	Adjusted numbers after harmonisation	Updated total cases on 17 October 2021	New cases on 18 October 2021	Total cases for 18 October 2021	Percentage total
Eastern Cape	291966	0	291966	14	291980	10.0
Free State	162819	0	162819	31	162850	5.6
Gauteng	918498	0	918498	38	918536	31.5
KwaZulu-Natal	514582	0	514582	41	514623	17.6
Limpopo	122127	0	122127	2	122129	4.2
Mpumalanga	151595	0	151595	11	151606	5.2
North West	150280	0	150280	15	150295	5.2
Northern Cape	92000	-1	91999	15	92014	3.2
Western Cape	512726	1	512727	43	512770	17.6
Total	2916593	0	2916593	210	2916803	100.0

THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 1.4% which is lower than yesterday (1.8%). The 7-day average is 2.1% today, which is lower than yesterday. The 7-day moving average daily number of cases has increased.

For more detailed information, visit the GIS Dashboard.

HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 24 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours. The following table is a summary of reported COVID-19 admissions by sector.

Sector	Facilities Reporting	Admissions to Date	Died to Date	Currently Admitted
Private	258	200,227	36,936	2,906
Public	408	232,835	56,735	2,029
TOTAL	666	433,062	93,671	4,935